Measles Outbreak Puts Montco On Alert

NORRISTOWN, PA — A measles outbreak in Philadelphia has put Montgomery County authorities on alert.

No cases have yet been confirmed in Montgomery County, but authorities are performing contact tracing on multiple residents who have been exposed at two different locations. Eight cases have already been confirmed in Philadelphia.

“Measles is a very dangerous virus,” the county said in a statement issued Thursday morning, noting that vaccinated individuals do not need to be concerned but that 90 percent of unvaccinated people who come in contact with the virus are infected.

The two exposure events occurred at Holy Redeemer Pediatric Urgent Care in Meadowbrook on Jan. 3, between 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Jefferson Abington Hospital Emergency Department on Jan. 3, between 7 p.m. and 9:40 p.m.

The Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services and Office of Public Health are in the process of identifying and warning individuals at those events, and issuing quarantine recommendations where necessary.

It’s not the first outbreak in recent years, as an anti-vaccine furor has contributed to a rise in cases of viruses like the measles that haven’t posed a real threat for decades. A Montgomery County child tested positive last July,raising alarms on the disease.

If you have been exposed and aren’t vaccinated, quarantine yourself for 21 days following exposure, health officials advise.

Measles symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, and eventually a measles rash. Serious complications like pneumonia and encephalitis, or swelling of the brain, can occur.

You are immune to measles if you have received two doses of the vaccine or if you were born before 1957.